We are a charitable organization that holds one horse show a year (for the past 46 years!). It’s time for us to move on from the paper age and onto a computer. We have 80 or so classes, open show.
Any suggestions for affordable software?
I’d rather not do this mess in excel if I don’t have to!
I am very computer savvy and have time to learn this thing (show is in July). Would like to stay under $200 for the program.
If you can work with Access or another relational database program, you could do it yourself.
I use ShowPro. You could probably get by with the standard edition which I think is under $200.
The guy who created it and sells it is super good with helping you use the program and answers questions very quickly.
I do ours on Access. (Three 2-day shows, about 40 classes per day, plus year end high points.)
I set up fields for everything I’ll need to search by for year-end high points and mailing lists and EVERYTHING – then I just do an advanced search/sort for what I need at the moment.
Jut off the top of my head, I have fields for:
Class #
Class Name
Horse’s Name
Rider’s First Name
Rider’s Last Name
Street Address
City/Town
State
Town
Phone #
E-mail address
Age Group (need for year end high point)
Breed / Type Division (need for year end high point)
Placing in class
Points earned in class
Notes (where I can put “check this or that or accuracy” and other questions)
ETA: Then at the end of the year, I do the final sort, copy and paste it to Excell and use that to total the points. Then I transfer the point totals back to Access, resort, and it gives me all the high point rankings.
I am learning the Fox Village Dressage program right now and it is a bear. It is really complete with so many registrations to keep track of and keeps a data bank of all riders and horse so all you do is update when they enter another show. I never realized the show secretary wades through so much information pre, during and post show. I also am realizing that the show secretary is about as far removed from horses and riding as you can be. Good luck with your show.
God bless all show secretaries - and volunteers!
I was looking at ShowPro! Overall, looked like it was a good program.
I wish I knew how to use Access… I’ve never even seen it! :lol:
Our club use Fox Village. It helps if you have someone show you the ropes. Seems easy enough, after you get to know it. And keeps records, for end of year calculations.
L
Looking for good software to run horse shows? I am one of the programmers and a support person for FunnWare Development’s Horse Show for Windows - it’s a very versatile program that allows for user defined classes, fees, awards, and much more. Contact us for discounted pricing if you run a non-profit!
gaitkeeper.com is one that seems to be good, but I have no idea if the pricing is acceptable for whatever your budget is:
http://gaitkeeper.com/Software.aspx
This thread is 7 years old 
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